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Speaker of Gagauzia’s People’s Assembly barred from leaving country for two months

Dmitry Konstantinov said that he received no response from authorities about the grounds for the ban on his travel

CHISINAU, April 22. /TASS/. Head of the People’s Assembly of Gagauzia Dmitry Konstantinov has been barred from leaving Moldova for two months.

According to the Gagauzia24 news portal, he told this to reporters after being summoned to the Security and Intelligence Service of the Republic of Moldova.

"Before Easter, I was summoned in the evening. I was told that I am not allowed to leave the country. I think this is politically motivated. I wrote to the prosecutor general, handed over a video showing how I was not allowed to leave the country," Konstantinov said. He reiterated that earlier, Moldovan border guards twice prevented him from flying out of a Chisinau airport, and his diplomatic passport issued by the Moldovan Foreign Ministry was also seized. According to him, then operatives from the Security and Intelligence Service demanded that he cooperate in removing from power Gagauz leader Evghenia Gutsul.

Konstantinov also said that he received no response from authorities about the grounds for the ban on his travel. "Do you recall, several times I was not allowed to travel to a doctor. There is still no response. They cannot explain on what grounds the ban was enacted. Who has the right to bar me from traveling is not clear. They say, the Moldovan president handed over a list of people who ‘must be jailed.’ Apparently, I am on that list," Konstantinov believes. According to him, after he was barred from travelling to Turkey for medical treatment twice, he planned to attend a wellness retreat in Hungary as of May 3.

"But now I am not allowed to leave. This is 'European democracy' for you," Konstantinov emphasized.

Earlier, the Gagauz government condemned the actions by Moldova’s authorities who prevented the parliamentary speaker from leaving the country. After opposition candidate Gutsul’s election win as head of Gagauzia, she expressed her intent to strengthen the region’s friendly ties with Russia and criticized the pro-Western Moldovan government’s confrontational stance toward Moscow. Chisinau attempted to declare her election invalid, but the Gagauz parliament expressed solidarity with Gutsul. Several mass protests supporting her were held in the region. Moldovan President Maia Sandu refused to sign the decree officially appointing Gutsul to the Moldovan government, ignoring legal procedures.

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